The Utah Jazz are headed back to the lottery, but this season has not been without a silver lining.

Rookie forward Ace Bailey has given the franchise one of its clearest reasons for optimism.

The 19-year-old, selected fifth overall in last year’s draft, has played his best basketball of the season this March and is beginning to look every bit like the kind of long-term building block Utah hoped it was getting. On a team battered by injuries and stuck near the bottom of the standings at 21–53, Bailey has embraced a larger offensive role in recent weeks and responded with the most productive stretch of his young career.

His month-by-month improvement tells the story well enough.

Bailey opened the season quietly, averaging just 4.4 points in October while still adjusting to the speed and physicality of the NBA. By November, that number had jumped to 12.1 points per game. There were some expected fluctuations in December and January, but even then the upward trajectory was visible. In February, Bailey averaged 14.3 points and 6.4 rebounds in over 32 minutes per game. This month, he has gone up another level entirely.

Through 12 games in March, Bailey is averaging 20.2 points in 29.3 minutes per contest. He is shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from three while making 3.7 triples per game. He has also added 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks. The Jazz may indeed be going nowhere this season, but Bailey’s production still matters. More than anything, it shows a young wing growing more comfortable with volume, more decisive with his shot selection, and more confident in his ability to handle a heavier workload.

That confidence has already produced three 30-point performances, all of which have come this month.

Bailey dropped 32 points in a win over Washington on March 5. He followed that with 33 points in another win over Milwaukee on March 19. Most recently, he erupted for a career-high 37 points in a loss to Toronto, knocking down seven of his 10 attempts from three-point range. These impressive scoring nights are a positive sign for this rebuilding franchise that they might soon be able to start thinking seriously about what their path back to contention can look like.

The opportunity for Bailey to prove himself has certainly been there. With Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, Kyle Filipowski, Isaiah Collier, and Brice Sensabaugh all missing time recently, the Jazz have needed someone to step forward and Bailey has not hesitated.

That willingness matters as much as the scoring itself. At 6-foot-9 with the quickness of someone half a foot shorter, he is a difficult cover on the perimeter—able to rise over defenders and fluid enough to create space on his own. If this March stretch is any indication, Utah may finally be able to trade away Markkanen after several years on the trading block, with Bailey emerging as a similar yet much younger scoring wing the franchise can build around for years to come.

The losses have continued to pile up this season, but so too has the belief that Ace Bailey can develop into a long-term cornerstone for the Jazz.